STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As a pizza was placed in front of the new mayor, he made a fateful move: He picked up a fork and knife.

The press corps noticed almost immediately. Within moments, there was a Twitter hashtag: #forkgate.

Mayor Bill de Blasio didn't stick strictly to utensils -- he sampled three slices (one marghertia, two "Smoking Goodfellas") and began with utensils for each, before switching to the more conventional New York handheld style for finishing.

"In my ancestral homeland, it is more typical to eat with a fork and knife," the Italian-American defended himself. "I have been in Italy a lot, and I have picked up the habit -- for a certain type of pizza. When you have a pizza like this, it had a lot on it, you know, I often start with a knife and fork, but then I cross over to the American approach, and I pick it up when I go farther into the pizza."

And while there were plenty of more important issues discussed -- the struggles of small businesses, recovery from Hurricane Sandy -- how the mayor ate his pizza became the focus of a great deal of attention.

Said Italian-American state Sen. Andrew Lanza: "We'll give him a break. It's his first week on the job, but if we ever see it again, then we're gonna have to really sit down and talk about things."

But the mayor found something of an ally in an unlikely person -- Minority Leader Vincent Ignizio. "They do so in Italy, as well," he said of the utensil use.

But that didn't stop Ignizio from trying to steal the very fork the mayor used in his controversial meal.

"This is the exact fork de Blasio used," he joked, saying it ought to be hung on the wall.

State Sen. Diane Savino weighed in on the controversy not
just as a Democrat representing the North Shore and Brooklyn - but as former
president of the Conference of Italian-American Legislators.

"I am an expert on this issue. Italians eat pizza with a fork
and a knife. Italian-Americans learned to make pizza twice the size it was
meant to be," Ms. Savino said, and as such, slice it and then use their hands.

Asked for comment on Forkgate, Borough President James Oddo
wondered if he was trapped in an episode of Seinfeld. The show about nothing
featured an episode where a character ate a Snickers bar with a knife and fork.

"I think the mayor of the City of New York can eat his pizza
any way he wants to, and any way he wants to is fine with me," Oddo said.

But how did the Borough President eat his?

"I went in mouth-first today," he said. "I was literally
hand-to-mouth."

De Blasio called the meal part of the "Staten Island Pizza Challenge" -- he previously dined at Denino's, and promised at a Democratic gala here he'd be back to try Goodfella's. But he couldn't yet declare a winner.

"I'm not in a position to pass judgment, because some of the elected officials of Staten Island have now insisted that other pizzerias be included," de Blasio said. "This challenge will continue, and I will not stop until I find the whole truth."